BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A small child was left in a car seat on the side of a road in a central Brevard County mobile home park Sunday, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office said.
Citing arrest affidavits, News 6 partner Florida Today reported that the boy's parents face child neglect felonies after the boy sat outside the couple's home for possibly 45 minutes.
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The incident happened in the 4000 block of Gatewood Street in the Cedar Lakes Mobile Home Park, west of Interstate 95 and south of State Road 520. A man driving through Cedar Lakes looking for yard sales told deputies he noticed the boy, who has cerebral palsy, unattended in the car seat, around 10:34 a.m.
The motorist didn't immediately call 911, but continued to peruse the park for yard sales, officials said. He told the Sheriff's Office that 30 minutes later he saw the boy still sitting on the side of the road under the sun, so he called 911.
About 15 minutes later, a deputy arrived and found the boy still sitting there, according to officials. The deputy found the parents, Randall Allen Crockett, 29, and Brittany Eggert, 27, who had no explanation for why the boy had been abandoned, officials said.
The parents said the boy had been left alone only for a few minutes, the affidavit states.
Paramedics for Brevard County Fire Rescue arrived to check the boy's health.
"He was awake, sweaty, but did not appear to be in any medical stress," the deputy wrote in his report.
Eggert and Crockett were arrested on charges of child neglect without great bodily harm. They each posted $2,000 bail at the Brevard County Jail on Monday.
The parents "failed to make a reasonable effort to protect (the boy) from danger," the deputy wrote in the affidavit.
The boy's age was redacted from the affidavit.
The Department of Children and Families was contacted about the case.